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• Toronto Maple Leafs name Craig Berube coach

  The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Craig Berube as their new head coach on Friday, bringing a Stanley Cup champion to a franchise that holds the longest stretch without a title in NHL history.

  Berube, who guided the St. Louis Blues to their lone Stanley Cup title in 2018-19, comes aboard just over a week after the Maple Leafs fired Sheldon Keefe following a first-round exit in this year's play-offs.

  The 58-year-old Berube, a former Toronto player known for his hard-nosed and disciplined coaching approach, compiled a 206-132-44 record in six seasons with St. Louis. The Blues reached the play-offs in the first four of those seasons, but missed the post-season in 2022-23 and got off to a 13-14-1 start in 2023-24 before Berube was fired on Dec. 12.

  Berube did enjoy instant success after replacing Mike Yeo behind the Blues' bench in November 2018. St. Louis was near the bottom of the Western Conference at the time of the switch, but rebounded to make the post-season before winning three play-off series prior to defeating the Boston Bruins in seven games in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

  He'll now take over a Toronto team that has won just one play-off series since 2006 and last hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1968, a 56-year drought that stands as the longest in NHL history.

  The Maple Leafs reached the play-offs in all five of their seasons under Keefe, but he won just one of six post-season series and was let go on May 9 after Toronto lost to the rival Bruins in seven games in this year's first round.

  "We had gotten to a place where just a new voice was needed," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said in announcing Keefe's dismissal. "And that's the unfortunate part of this business. I do not believe that you turn coaches and you keep turning coaches. I don't think that is the recipe for success at all. I just felt at the end of the day, when I look at the totality of his time here, a change was required."

  Berube, who also spent two seasons as the Philadelphia Flyers' head coach from 2013-15, inherits a talented roster that produced the second-most goals in the NHL this season. Star centre Auston Matthews led the league with 69 goals, the highest individual total by any player in a season since Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux also had 69 for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96.

  A rugged forward who spent 17 seasons as an NHL player with five teams, Berube has assembled a 281-190-72 overall record as a head coach and was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award honouring the league's top coach in 2018-19.

  Berube's hire leaves four teams - the New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets - still with coaching vacancies. The Buffalo Sabres (Lindy Ruff) and Ottawa Senators (Travis Green) previously hired new head coaches within the last month. 

   

   

   

   

   

• Toronto Maple Leafs fire coach Sheldon Keefe

  The Toronto Maple Leafs will have a new voice behind the bench.

  The Maple Leafs fired coach Sheldon Keefe on Thursday after the team suffered yet another early exit from the NHL Stanley Cup play-offs.

  Hired by Toronto in November 2019, Keefe led the Maple Leafs to the play-offs in each of his five seasons at the helm, but the team only advanced out of the first round once.

  His firing came five days after Toronto's season ended in the first round with an overtime Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins.

  "Today's decision was difficult. Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great man; however, we determined a new voice is needed to help the team push through to reach our ultimate goal," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said in a statement. "We thank Sheldon for his hard work and dedication to the organisation over the last nine years, and wish him and his family all the very best."

  Under Keefe, Toronto amassed a franchise-record 115 points in 2021-22, and the 2020-21 team won the club's first division title since 1999-2000.

  Although Keefe coached the Maple Leafs to a 212-97-40 record in the regular season, the team sputtered in the play-offs, going just 16-21.

  An Original Six franchise, the Maple Leafs are one of the NHL's most revered clubs, but their futility in the play-offs is galling.

  Toronto has won just a single play-off series in the last 19 seasons and hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 56 seasons - the longest active drought by an NHL franchise.

   

• NHL: Surging Vegas scores 4 in 1st to beat Canucks

  Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel each had a goal and an assist in a four-goal first period and the Vegas Golden Knights extended their point streak to seven games with a 6-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

  Anthony Mantha and Noah Hanifin also scored in the opening period and Brett Howden also tallied for Vegas, which has gone 6-0-1 in its last seven games to pull within three points of Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division.

  Logan Thompson made 27 saves to win his sixth straight start in his 99th career game.

  Quinn Hughes scored twice for the Canucks, who have lost three of four but are five points up on the Oilers for first in the Pacific.

  Ullmark perfect in Bruins’ win

  Linus Ullmark turned away 32 shots and assisted on Charlie Coyle’s short-handed, game-winning goal in the third period to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Nashville Predators.

  David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist apiece to help Boston win for the third time in four games and extend its Atlantic Division lead to four points over Florida.

  Juuse Saros made 30 saves for the Predators, who dropped their third in a row following a franchise-record 18-game point streak.

  Surging Penguins rally past Devils

  Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each scored twice during the Penguins’ five-goal third period and Pittsburgh remained in the playoff race with a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils.

  The Devils took a 3-1 lead into the third period, but Crosby scored on a power play at 6:48 and Malkin’s first goal of the game just over a minute later tied it.

  Rickard Rakell’s goal with 3:44 left put the Penguins ahead and Malkin made it 5-3 32 seconds later. Crosby’s empty-net goal closed the scoring.

  Pittsburgh is 4-0-2 in its last six games and had moved within three points of Washington for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.